The Poets’ Wine

I open the bottle and sit here alone
just trying to find words that rhyme.
But the words seem to pass, so I pick up my glass
and drink of the poets' wine.
All my tomorrows and yesterdays blend
as, today, I try to define.
I see troubles and woes in yeses and nos
when I drink of the poets' wine.
Thens and theres, with whens and wheres
are here in the fruit of the vine.
And, often, it seems, I find a new dream
when drinking the poets' wine.
Sometimes things in the poets' wine
bring feelings of pain and feelings divine.
So, I sit here all night trying to write
about what's in the poets' wine.
A teardrop or two, with memories of you
ensure that later I'll find
a tear-stained page from some other age
which was lost in the poets' wine.
Yet, there's no destiny in the thoughts I set free
with words I sometimes find.
So, when it's all through, there's just me and you
in the last of the poets' wine.

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”